02.10.24, 20:30, La Paloma (1974)

Break your vows and refresh your lipstick, Kinoautomat immerses you in the whirlpool of love.

Emotional and aesthetic excesses are passionate bedfellows in this masterful melodrama by Daniel Schmid. When illustrious nightclub singer La Paloma believes she is incurably ill, she falls for the advances of a wealthy suitor. Once married, however, her health begins to improve and she doubts her decision. The situation becomes even more complex when she develops a romantic fixation for an old school friend. If this plot description reads like the synopsis of a mediocre operetta, that is precisely the point. Schmid exploits platitudes, clichés and other cheap grabs at melodrama to undress the fictions of empathy.

Our guest speaker tonight puts herself in the spotlight to untangle the knots of cinematic emotionality. The contract that La Paloma enters into with the viewer is ambiguous at all times, but it is precisely through this artificial self-reflection that the film asks to be loved. The result is an illustrious piece of cinema in which the formal fireworks of Old Hollywoods are expertly displayed and dissected.

This film is introduced by writer and musician Kathy Vanhout.